[RydoMcG]

Hi everyone,

I've always been a Honda guy at heart- had a 98 Accord Coupe, 01 Civic Coupe, 07 Legend and 08 Civic IMA. I also currently own a '14 CR-Z which you can take a look at here if you'd like!

I've always liked various Mercedes over the years, and rate it the highest in my preference of German manufacturers. I always remember when the C117 was first shown all those years ago and when I started to see them on the road and I absolutely loved them. Being someone who refuses to get into the finance game and 'buy' new cars (rent them for 3 years), I put it out of my mind and waited.

That was until the end of January this year, when I purchased this Cirrus White CLA 250 4MATIC with EVERY option offered for them in the UK. It only had 39,500 miles when I bought it and only 1 owner from new. I'm sure you will all appreciate how hard this is when the Germans offer so many option combinations - and yes that includes the Harman Kardon sound system.

The car was ordered new in March 2015 at Mercedes-Benz World, Brooklands. This is a massive Mercedes-Benz Museum/Experience centre built on the grounds of the world famous Brooklands racing track, with the famous steeply banked concrete bends.

It is highly unusual in the UK for being a CLA250 (only around 5 saloons/sedans for sale at any point in the country) rather than the vastly more popular diesel. It is also highly unusual in that it doesn't have the red seatbelts and red accent on the front bumper - something I didn't like on all the other CLA250s I saw for sale. As previously mentioned, the buyer also specified every option available for the vehicle, including:

• Full Artico 'Leather' Interior with red stitching, extended to the dashboard and doors. (very rare option, vast majority are the Alcantara-like seats)
• Harman Kardan sound system
• Larger screen COMAND Online NTG5 - extremely rare for 2015s to have as it's essentially the 2016 onwards system.
• Heated front driver and passenger seats
• Electric memory front driver and passenger seats
• Electrically foldable mirrors
• Rear parking sensors
• Front parking sensors with LED display bar on dashboard.

The car has an almost full Mercedes-Benz main dealer service history, which reads as follows

• 04.03.16 - Mercedes-Benz Brooklands Service A
• 13.03.17 - Mercedes-Benz Cowley Service B (Dust filter)
• 21.03.18 - Mercedes-Benz Cowley Service A
• 02.04.19 - Mercedes-Benz Brooklands Service B (Spark plugs, air filter element replaced)
• 01.08.20 - Mercedes-Benz Brooklands Service A (Automatic transmission oil and filter change)
• 30.07-21 - Mercedes-Benz Brooklands Service B
• 11.07.22 - Halfords Autocentre Staines

My first modification was to take it over to commandonline.co.uk which handily nearby where the car was located and have all the software and firmware updates to have CarPlay activated using the genuine Mercedes interface. That's for another thread, as I've seen many misleading comments about this and so want to help anyone in the situation where they are looking at a 2015 with the larger screen/COMAND Online NTG5.

Gallery

 

[jmc]

quite lucky to find a good sample 🙂
i hear ya … toyed with a civic … boosted a b18 teg … keeping my 95 legend … all the jdm stuff … amazing how much a tethered laptop can do with those rockets
and then for some unknown reason i went to germany to pick up a cla … go figure ay?
if you start tearing into the system (using a benz compatible multiplexer and some benz software) do post and perhaps we can compare notes sometime

 

[RydoMcG]

Thanks @jmc for the reply!

I still have my CR-Z as it's a complete different car. The CLA is planted, solid feeling and smooth. the CR-Z is a manual and handles like a go kart.

I'm mostly on the forum to look into a few common issues with the car and try and keep it running well. Noticed last night some threads on the 4MATIC system going wrong on them which now has me worried - maybe I will regret German car ownership 🙄.

 

[jmc]

run thru 2 or 3 short term fluid cycles ~500mi to flush out any nano crap scraping things up inside the electromechanics
might give the rear diff a better chance to live longer … fluid is cheap … a rebuilt diff aint
when i stared at the design i noted its quite the gadget - just needs a little more tlc to stay perfect

 

[RydoMcG]

Quick update - something I noticed immediately after getting in my CLA is how creaky the panoramic roof was.

Don't get me wrong, panoramic roof is so special and everyone who has got into the car so far has commented on it - but the noise was driving me crazy.

Took to Google to see if it's a common issue and low and behold is, in the thread below I post a clip of the sound and I will update on my results after using some Autoglym Leather Balm to dry and bring some moisture back to the dry rubber seals.

Panroof Squeak Thread

 

[jmc]

oh … i hear ya 😋
theres this pflege stuff i use for slight surface rejuvination ever so often when the rubber contacts sing or when the side windows whisper a little too loud

 

[RydoMcG]

I used this and the problem is now completely solved!

 

[jmc]

yeah thats the stuff
might be the same as the einszett/nextzett stuff i use

 

[RydoMcG]

Started a new thread to detail my woes with 'Speed Limit Assist Inoperative' message. 😞

 

[RydoMcG]

New Genuine Mercedes-Benz front brake pads and Mercedes-Benz Rear Differential Fluid. Car is booked in for April the 10th with TJ O'Neill Independent Mercedes-Benz specialist to have brake pads fitted, rear fluid changed and Speed Limit Assist Inoperative message diagnosed.

Part numbers for those interested.

Mercedes-Benz CLA Front Brake Pads - A 000 420 91 04
Mercdes-Benz CLA 250 Rear Differential Fluid - A002989020309

I found it tricky looking for the rear differential fluid as there was many small variations in the part number but the CLA 250 rear diff fluid change video on YouTube had the guy using the one pictured above.

 

[jmc]

got away cheap 🙂

 

[RydoMcG]

got away cheap 🙂

That’s only the one item and no labour - parts being installed by Merc specialist!
I was £110 altogether but going to guess about another £100 for labour.

 

[jmc]

yeah i meant parts and supplies cheap for a change

 

[RydoMcG]

yeah i meant parts and supplies cheap for a change

Oh yeah sorry! Yeah I was definitely not too upset by the price for genuine Mercedes bits!
I just hope when the diagnostic comes back for the Speed Limit Asisst Inoperative message that it’s nothing too horrendous 😬

 

[jmc]

… bird poop obscuring the camera … 🤪

 

[RydoMcG]

… bird poop obscuring the camera … 🤪

See other thread. Car is spotless. Just the first in what I hope is not a long list of ‘German engineering’ quirks.

 

[RydoMcG]

Added a gallery of photos from the eBay listing of the car! Enjoy!

 

[RydoMcG]

Bought and collected my 580 litre roof box for travelling across Europe this summer! I've also purchased a Thule Wingbar Edge 9592 which is the lowest profile bars that Thule do and Thule 183125 mounting kit.

I looked at the genuine Mercedes-Benz bars but they were very high off of the roof unlike the Thule bars which sit close to the roof and look better.

I also considered the genuine Mercedes-Benz box but it was just so much more expensive and I couldn't justify it. Probably going to look into some Mercedes-Benz text logo decals for the roof box. I'll post pictures when all fitted to give an idea of what one of these looks like with a big ol' cargo pack on top.